Ryan Rabin Of Grouplove: Down To Business

Programming sampled kit sounds and mixing it with the acoustic kit is one of the things that let Rabin really show off his engineering talents. “Toungue Tied” is an example of a tune where doing so seamlessly proved to be a major obstacle at first, until the perfect balance was finally struck. “The electronics are so driving for the first three quarters of the song and then you wait for the payoff and then these live drums thunder back in,” he says excitedly. “So I get to rock out a little bit on what’s mostly an electronic song.”

If playing drums for Rabin seem like an afterthought, that’s only because he’s put the instrument in its place per the new musical order, you know, the one where drummers have to increasingly multitask if they want to live by their beats. Hate the game, not the player.

Hackneyed as it sounds, the acorn indeed does not fall far from the tree. Rabin’s father went from playing guitar to scoring films. Likewise, Ryan’s love of beats isn’t diminished by the fact that he likes to see the big picture. “As long as I’ve been playing drums I’ve been recording myself playing drums. I would just want to record our demos as well and learn that way. It kind of always went hand in hand. But I’d say leading up to Grouplove happening, yeah, I was doing much more writing and producing than actually playing drums in a group.

“Now technology is allowing drummers to have a little more say in what their sound is,” he continues. “And how their role can be in the band if they want to contribute more than just being a drummer.” (The horror!)

A cynic might cite Rabin’s workaholic proclivities as masking deeper issues, but Rabin refuses to see it like that: “I think it’s nice though for drummers to be taking more of an interest in production,” he says. But he knows where to put his allegiance: “Drums still define the arrangement of a song.”

Vitals

Band Grouplove
Current Release Never Trust A Happy Song
Age 25
Birthplace Los Angeles
Influences Travis Barker, Alan White, Lou Malino
Web site grouplovemusic.com

Gear

Drums Gretsch, Ludwig
Cymbals Zildjian ride, Paiste crashes, Bosphorus hi-hat
Hardware DW 5000 series
Sticks Vic Firth 5B
Heads Evans